Hathaway scoops early SAG prize

ReutersActress Anne Hathaway, from the film Les Miserables, accepts the award for outstanding female actor in a supporting role at the 19th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, California, on Sunday.

Los Angeles - Tommy Lee Jones of Lincoln and Anne Hathaway of Les Miserables claimed the first prizes of the night on Sunday at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, winning supporting-acting honours that boost their prospects for the Academy Awards.

Hathaway won for her role as a doomed single mother forced into prostitution in the adaptation of the stage musical based on Victor Hugo's epic novel. Her win came over four past Oscar recipients - Sally Field, Helen Hunt, Nicole Kidman and Maggie Smith.

“I'm just thrilled I have dental,” Hathaway said. “I got my SAG card when I was 14. It felt like the beginning of the world. I have loved every single minute of my life as an actor... Thank you for nominating me alongside incredible women and incredible performances.”

Jones was not at the show, but the win improves his odds to become a two-time Academy Award winner. He previously won a supporting-actor Oscar for The Fugitive.

Earlier, the James Bond adventure Skyfall and the fantasy series Game Of Thrones picked up prizes for best stunt work - honours announced on the red carpet before the official SAG Awards ceremony.

JoBeth Williams and Scott Bakula announced the winners, noting the value of stunt players, who often are overlooked for their contributions to film and television.

“The stunt men and women of our union are critical to the work that gets done,” Bakula said. “They keep us healthy, they keep us alive, they keep us working. They keep our shows working.”

The SAG honours are the latest show in a puzzling Academy Awards season in which Hollywood's top prize, the best-picture Oscar, looks up for grabs among several key nominees.

Honours from the actors union, next weekend's Directors Guild of America Awards and Saturday night's Producers Guild of America Awards - whose top honour went to Argo - typically help to establish clear favourites for the Oscars.

But Oscar night on February 24 looks more uncertain this time after some top directing prospects, including Ben Affleck for Argo and Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty, missed out on nominations. Both films were nominated for best picture, but a movie rarely wins the top Oscar if its director is not also in the running.

Steven Spielberg's Lincoln would seem the Oscar favourite with 12 nominations. Yet Argo and Affleck were surprise best-drama and director winners at the Golden Globes, and then there's Saturday's Producers Guild win for Argo, leaving the Oscar race looking like anybody's guess.

Affleck has made some nice jokes about his directing snub, wisecracking at one point that no one seemed surprised he didn't get an acting nomination for Argo, either.

His colleagues just seem happy for all the attention the film has received.

“The thing is, we're all very pleased we've been nominated for so many things,” Argo co-star John Goodman said before the SAG Awards.

The Screen Actors Guild honours at least should help to establish solid front-runners for the stars. All four of the guild's individual acting winners often go on to receive the same prizes at the Academy Awards.

Last year, the guild went just three-for-four - with lead actor Jean Dujardin of The Artist and supporting players Octavia Spencer of The Help and Christopher Plummer of Beginners also taking home Oscars. The guild's lead-actress winner, Viola Davis of The Help, missed out on the Oscar, which went to Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady.

The guild also presents an award for overall cast performance, its equivalent of a best-picture honour. The nominees are Argo, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Les Miserables, Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook.

Yet the cast prize has a spotty record at predicting the eventual best-picture recipient at the Oscars. Only eight of 17 times since the guild added the category has the cast winner gone on to take the best-picture Oscar. The Help won the guild's cast prize last year, while Oscar voters named The Artist as best picture.

Such past guild cast winners as The Birdcage, Gosford Park and Inglourious Basterds also failed to take the top Oscar.

Receiving the guild's life-achievement award is Dick Van Dyke, who presented the same prize last year to his The Dick Van Dyke Show co-star, Mary Tyler Moore. Van Dyke's award will be presented by his 1960s sitcom's creator and co-star, Carl Reiner, and Alec Baldwin.

“I'm so tickled. I'm so excited,” Van Dyke said before the show. “And I'm the only one who knows he's going to win.” - Sapa-AP

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